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Rabbit Incursion
Outskirts of San Francisco - North America Northern California still struggles to maintain its natural beauty, even though it is teeming with people and fighting with all the problems of a modern society. For the most part, the hilly green city of San Francisco succeeds in that venture. Still, you get the sense of vast overcrowding pushing at the seams of this place, where no privacy can truly be afforded. Even the outskirts and suburbs overflow with people. The area around Autobot city may be dominated by a lot of mountain territory, but there's also a lot of grassy areas throughout. And it is in one of these that the 'signal' seems to originate from. The area is fairly lacking in anything to make it special. Plenty of grass, quite a few rocks, and some trees dotted around the large area. There certainly is no Decepticon present. No rather non-realistic cats or condors in the area. And, as best as anyone can make out, there's not even a cassette tape or tape deck lying around for some naive human to carry into Autobot City. Just lots of grass, the rocks, those rabbits, and trees. Yes there's rabbits. Come to think of it, there's quite a few rabbits going around this area, better watch where you stand. Scamper drives into the area (yes he's built for this terrain, he handles it like Prime handles Galvatron, with ease. As he enters the area that the techs inform him is where the odd transmissions are coming from, he pulls up and transforms, his gun out nanoseconds later as he scans the are, radio'ing any Autobots in range, <> And so he begins to walk round the area <'Autobot'> Imager says, "What you got going on, problems?" <'Autobot'> Scamper says, "We have unidentified and intermittent transmissions on the perimeter." <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "I'll head out that way." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Transmissions, eh? any clue what it is?" <'Autobot'> Scamper says, "Negative, no indication so far." <'Autobot'> Spindrift says, "Hang on one of ya guys so I can hitch a ride." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "yeah, yeah, I'm slow enough, I'll go give a looksee too" Wraith is...well, not driving. He's quite content to walk. Especially once the road runs out. He's lacking the very sophisticated sensor packages most of the trackers come with, but that doesn't mean he's not looking for things. No, he takes the other route, more searching for electrical signals that don't belong. Transmissions require a power source, after all, and he's rather keen on finding it. Spying Scamper, he simply offers a curt nod to announce his arrival. "Seems to be relatively quiet..." Imager kneels, then splits as she lays flat, then outer casing of her hovercraft mode sealing into position around her. Blades transforms into his Bell UH-1V Iroquois mode. Bell UH-1V Iroquois can fly! Especially because his t-cog is fixed! So he does that. If the other Autobots find something dangerous and need Air Support, he's right there! Heavy Hovercraft mager> makes a loud whirring sound as she travels over hill and dale, and is probably scaring off a number of rabbits. <> She showed up a bit late, and its not because she's slow, but because she had a ride request or two. The big fat hovercraft has seen better days, but its roomy for any occupants, and can definitely take a few hits. Overall, secure and smooth travel if not fast. Halo is standing on the rails of Blades' helicopter mode because animation errors. "I just want this resolved. And quickly. Blades, I'm not exaggerating that what the humans wear hurts me. It really, physically hurts me. So many jumpsuits with first initials. Honestly, who created that and named themselves an artist?" Spindrift hitched a ride with Imager, though he's not sitting in her cab. He's perfectly fine riding on the outside, where he can be of immeadiate use should he need his weapons or his forcefield at a moment's notice. Carly is sitting inside Imager's hovercraft mode, reading the newspaper. "I hope there aren't any spies, but if there are you should't splat them, that isn't very nice." She squints at the words on the paper, and then realises that reading in vehicles makes her sick. She quickly pops open the glove compartment and vomits into it. Rising up and unfolding the tri-axled car before you turns into a robot. The mountainous regions surrounding Autobot city was not Zipline's prefered area to run through. Too many hills, not enough flat areas to run through. But her quadrapedal, agile cheetah-like chasis at least makes it not outright impossible for her to manage it. She's keeping up fairly well running alongside Imager, regardless of the rocky terrain. "What the slag is something doing out here anyway?" She leaps deftly over a large boulder. "There's nothing but brown out here." A pause, as she eyes a little patch of grass. "Oh wait, there's some green." There really is a lot of rabbits in this area. I mean, this is like some form of colony or nest or whatever you call it for rabbits. Oddly there seem to be a number of groups in there, or maybe it isn't odd, might be normal for rabbits. Might explain why there's so many. For anyone trying to check for the radio signals (where's Blaster when you need him) transmissions are indeed intermittent, and seem to come from various places in the area. Scamper keeps moving, working with AC to try and figure out what is going on, he mutters to himself, "If Blaster's messing with his radio equipment again, I swear..." At least a good number of Autobots have shown up, a healthy respect for Metroplexs safety may finally be settling into them. Wraith glances back at the mass arrival of Autobots and nods to himself. Well, at least there's sufficient backup. He steps through the mess of hoppy doppelgangers (Hoppygangers? Doppelhops?) and makes his way towards Scamper. "Let me guess. Someone left the carrots outside last night." Bad joke, yes, but he doesn't seem to care, mind, nor even wait for a proper response as he gives one of the rabbits a critical look. "You don't think someone is learning how to utilize biological warfare to their advantage, do you?" Heavy Hovercraft mager> responds to Carly, "Not following ya. They're spies, most of em those little twerps...erm, no offense there Zipline, but they're a sneaky bunch. Better to squash em under your foot. I mean I'd rather not have to do that, but most of em don't interrogate too well, frakkin Soundwave." She pumps a little more power into her turbines, as she takes a hill, her voice focuses on the others now, "Kay, so...we just run around and look? I think someone needs an upgrade if that's the case. Hey Carly Human...whatzit these little things that scamper about anyway?" ((rabbits)) Bell UH-1V Iroquois is sort of enjoying Halo's pain, though he knows that he shouldn't. He murmurs, "Halo, someday, I am gonna need to take you to the Highland Games..." He wants to see how she reacts to plaid and kilts. "None taken miss," Spindrift replies to the 'sneaky bunch'. "In fact, most of us would agree with ya." He chuckles a bit, and once Imager is close to Scamper's position he hops off of her. "There's a reason most of us are made to counteract em being sneaky instead of being sneaky too." Though he does take the precaution of moving away a bit from the larger Autobots, just to avoid any accidental stepping ons. "... Sure are a lotta rabbits out here." Combat: Wraith compares his Technical to 70: Success! Carly peers out of the open window just as Imager goes faster, and her face goes green again. "BLARGH!" she throws up out the window. She quickly ducks her head back inside again. "Scampering things, what?" she frowns. "What are you talking about? Ants?" "Well whatever these Highland Games are, Blades..." Halo leaps nimbly to the ground near the gathering Autobots, suddenly looking her correct size. "...I hope they understand that there is more than one shade of black." She glances around at the group. "..."So...Rabbits. Do we have this solved? Scamper, do you need me to step in?"" She adjusts the edge of her gauntlet, as if it her a proper lady's glove. "None taken, Soundwave's crew are total losers," Zipline replies to Imager, "And I can't sneak worth slag. More fun to go in guns blazing anyway!" Ironic considering that she looks like she's probably built somewhat based off of Ravage's designs. As the population of small, hoppy things increases, Zipline slows to a slow (for her) walk. "Huh," She says, looking around at all of the rabits. "What's the deal with these things?" She lowers her head closer to the ground to investigate. "Guess they're kinda cute, but are they a threat?" Never know with small biologicals. Combat: Zipline compares her Technical to 70: Success! Apparently it's a warren, where's Rewind when you need him. So maybe there's a warren nearby, wouldn't that be exciting. Well it would be if there were any rabbit-bots. Something to pass on to Blaster as an idea. Oddly, given someone commented about the rabbits eating, a lot of them aren't eating. Occassionally a group of them go hopping along for a few metres or so, always taking them closer to Autobot City. Moving through the area, Scamper is avoiding stepping on rabbits without even thinking. He looks at Wraith at the feeding them comment, "There was a suggestion of a petting zoo on the outskirts many years ago. The planning committee were considering it when we had to move Metroplex for a battle, he stood on the location, so we dismissed the idea. I don't think anyone else has set up any animal feeding program around the city." So that's a no to the carrots. Heavy Hovercraft mager> amends, "Oh, uh, yeah Spindrift...didn't mean either of ya. Heh, tell me again how you sucker-rolled Soundwave in that mission on Stanix again sometime." The vehicle pauses as she crests the hill, her solar array angles a little, as if to point...which really doesn't help Carly see anything. "Those things...see em? Big ears and they have that weird loping movement. See em?" She pushes forwards, her jets tilting just a bit as she tries to inch forward to one hare nearby. "See em now?" <'Autobot'> Rodimus Prime says, "The holo-alert picked you guys up, everything ok Earthside?" <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "To be determined." <'Autobot'> Scamper says, "We have intermittent signals on the perimeter." Anyone who doesn't realise what perimeter Scamper refers to doesn't know him well enough, "Myself and a number of others are investigating." Wraith pauses momentarily as he continues to watch, optics narrowing slightly... "Something is amiss here." He reaches down to scoop up one of the rabbits being...very mindful not to crush the thing. At the same time, though, curiosity must be satiated. "Well now...what have we here, hmm?" Caging the critter with the fingers, he brings his hands up to take a better look at the rabbit proper. "Hello there, little thing. What brings you out this way?" Carly peers out of the window, squinting ahead. "I don't have your robot eyes, Imager. Can't you just cross reference their image with the internet? Wait, no, don't do that!" She frowns. "Big ears... are they elephants?" Spindrift chuckles a bit as Imager brings up that fond memory. Right up there with the time Jazz used his grapnel line to make the dillo-bot a literal wrecking ball. Which was interesting enough also against Soundwave. "Sure thing, lass." Nothing is attacking or needing dug up, so he's mostly just here to make idle conversation for the moment. Combat: Wraith compares his Accuracy to 60: Failure :( If Zipline has the usual feline disposition to chase and eat small hoppy things, she doesn't show it. Well, she DOES seem to have a health curiosity towards them none the less. She comes closer to one of those little rabbits, her head canted slightly over to the side. "Hey, so, what're you guys doing here anyway?" Humans can talk, so why can't rabbits? Zipline frowns a little bit as she looks back to the rest of the warren. "Hmm..." Reaching out, she tries to poke one of the nearest rabbits with the tip of a paw. "There's something kinda fishy about these guys. And I'm not talking the tuna someone keeps throwing in my cubby." Heavy Hovercraft mager> groans, "Are you messing with me? Seriously? You can't see em? I'd lasso one but I don't wanna hurt him none." She starts bringing up her admittedly basic camera package to display it for the human. It takes a moment, but she zooms in on a rabbit, "There, That thing." She adds almost sputtering, "I'm new here, I don't know you Earthers stuff yet. Hard enough to get that your cars don't transform. You've had that tech for pert near thirty years now, and you guys still just drive." Combat: Zipline compares her Accuracy to 60: Success! Carly stares at the screen. "Oh right, yes. That's a rabbit. Or a hare. There's a difference with the ears but I keep forgetting which way round it is. Never watch Watership Down." <'Autobot'> Rodimus Prime says, "With Carly with you I'm sure it's more or less handled." Heavy Hovercraft mager> adds, "If I catch you makin fun at my expense, Imma drive all swervey like. So you know." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Yeah, well Carly here, is yanking my chain about these so called 'rabbits' I think" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Wait, are those the things that live in that deathtrap you guys call 'fishin' or is that something else?" Arcee arrives, and observes the bunny rush with some surprise. "...Wow. Isn't there some time of the year when they all migrate? Or am I thinking of another animal?" Wraith hmms. Nothing...too out of the ordinary at a glance, as far as he can tell. But, he's not so familiar with most of the earth-based lifeforms anyway. He lowers his hand down to let the thing go before turning to Zipline. "So, I am not the only one that thinks something is not right here?" He makes his way over to where the catbot is poking at one of the rabbits. "What are you making of all of this? Something just seems to be far too...uniform about it all. Unnatural." Autobot City radios, <> And so are the rabbits. Hop hop hop towards the city they go in spurts. Scamper looks at the Rabbit in Wraiths hands from where he is, "That would be a rabbit. They are considered harmless. And I doubt the Decepticons have this many new spies." Scamper pauses for a moment, "But one of them might be a spy I guess." He inexplicably finds himself pointing his gun at the nearest rabbit. <'Autobot'> Rodimus Prime says, "Fishing isn't a death trap. Imager. It's a sport that combines patience, strategy, discipline, and the mastery of one's own impulses. And drinking, if Kup is there." <'Autobot'> Carly Witwicky says, "Killing should never be a hobby, Rodimus, even if it is fish" "Are you seriously going to shoot one of these? They're not even aggressive," Arcee says, giving Scamper a worried look. <'Autobot'> Imager says, "but its in water right? Deathtrap" <'Autobot'> Carly Witwicky says, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" <'Autobot'> Getaway says, "Are earth-fish sentient?" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "whoa now, are fish sentient then?" <'Autobot'> Spindrift says, "Oh here we go..." <'Autobot'> Blades says, "I am sure that Rodimus breaks the fish down into energon and eats them." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "I thought that big ruckus earlier was about sapiency, not sentience" <'Autobot'> Rodimus Prime says, "Oh, we always throw them back, Carly. Perceptor designed a special punctureless hook." <'Autobot'> Carly Witwicky says, "Is that the hook that looks suspiciously like a normal hook with 'special punctureless hook' written on it in felt tip?" <'Autobot'> Blades says, "Wh-what? You don't have a big reaction vat back in Autobot City to turn fish into energon!?" <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "Have you been hoarding fish in your barracks room, Blades?" <'Autobot'> Blades says, "No! And I thought that I had finally figured out why the cafeteria energon in Autobot City tastes so bad..." Heavy Hovercraft mager> sighs, then the hovercraft turns around to look at the bunnies, a hopping along. "Heh...lookit em go. SO, yeah, what're we doing here? Maybe we gotta catch a few and give em the once over? See if they got...eh I dunno, control collars or something?" She starts to shift forward to follow them, surprisingly careful not to blow one around with her hoverjets. <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Oh I get it!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Ener-Gone fishing" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "amirite?" <'Autobot'> Wraith faceplatepalms audibly. Halo gives Arcee a polite nod, having always been a fan of the way the vents in her head broke up the white in her helmet. Smart design. "Scamper seems convinced that these rabbits are here for a more criminal purpose than migration." Halo seems to find the whole thing rather absurd. Zipline abruptly jerks her head back away from the rabbit. "Hold on-" She says, frowning thoughtfully, "Did I just..." She leans her head down further, head sightly canted towards it so that one ear is angled towards it. "I don't know," The cheetah bot says to Wraith. "I mean, I'm no earth expert, but are these suckers supposed to make whirring noises?" Carly sighs, "No, Imager, rabbits have their own ri-" She breaks off as she sees what Scamper is doing. With a cry of "NOOOOO!" she leaps out of the moving hovercraft, throwing herself as a human shield between Scamper and the rabbit he is targetting. "Scamper, no! Rabbits are our friends!" <'Autobot'> Rodimus Prime says, "That's the one, Carly." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Whoa, whoa!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Don't you jump out of a movin hovercraft again! I got intake valves and stuff.....SCHOOOP...PUHHH" Arcee smiles at Halo. "I suppose they're almost suspiciously cute," she muses, then watches as Carly defends the little creature. "...Well that settles it, then. Carly knows her stuff when it comes to these matters." Wraith sits down to watch the hops, tapping a finger to measure intervals between each movement. "Scamper... what is the interval between those radio transmissions?" He continues to watch all the while, though. But when Zipline mentions something about whirring, it catches his attention. "Not that I am aware of. It is not common for any species here on earth to issue mechanical noises, to the best of my knowledge." He looks back down at the group of rabbits. "Perhaps we should seize one for a closer look? Perhaps someone with smaller digits than myself, though." Spindrift turns his attention to Zipline. ".. Whirrin' noises?" And now they're slowly hopping towards the city. "Whoa, hold on a gasket poppin' minute here." He turns and balls up, rolling quickly to pass the clutch of bunnies moving towards the city. Once he's passed them he unrolls again, and activates his forcefield as a wall between the rabbits and the way towards the city. Combat: Spindrift creates a forcefield shielding himself from damage. The rabbit that Scamper has his gun pointed at hops over to it, standing up on it's hind legs it sniffs at the gun barrel. A lot of the others though, continue their hopping tour of the perimeter, if such a tour meant crossing it towards the city. When Carly moves between the rabbit and the gun, it gives her a look, and then decides to join the other rabbits heading for AC. Hop hop hop. Bump. The rabbits start bouncing off the forcefield. Some seem to not care and settle where they are. Most though continue to try hopping towards AC, even though they keep hitting the forcefield. Scamper continues looking at the rabbit sniffing his gun as he replies to Arcee, "There is an unexplained signal transmitting, and approaching the city. If it is these robots they may not be so harmless." Then he finds Carly between the rabbit and his gun, at which point his gun very quickly gets pointed elsewhere, probably at a different rabbit, "Mrs Witwicky, I must insist you not put yourself in harms way, guns can go off in error and we would not wish you any harm." He eyes Spindrift, making a note to thank him for his diligence in protecting Metroplex from what could be harmful. <'Autobot'> Spindrift says, "Uh, guys? These rabbits are bein' really weird." Bell UH-1V Iroquois just kind of hovers there while everyone freaks out about rabbits. He has to admit, "I don't get it." <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "I've noticed. As has Zipline." <'Autobot'> Scamper says, "Autobot City, raise defenses, monitor for rabbits." Carly picks herself up and dusts herself off as she glares up at Scamper. "They are rabbits, not robots, and they have as much right - if not /more/ right than you to be here! Unless you think someone is controlling them, but I can't see what harm they could do unless Autobot City is made out of lettuce!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "really?" <'Autobot'> Rodimus Prime says, "Well, that's a new one." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Really, we're doing that now?" <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "Yes." <'Autobot'> Carly Witwicky says, "No we're not" <'Autobot'> Carly Witwicky says, "You can't be rabbit racist" There's little flickers each time a rabbit bounces off the forcefield. Spindrift frowns as much as his non-humanoid face can, and shifts the wavelength a bit to make the forcefield more visible. But despite the faint lavender glow rabbits keep trying to jump into it. "They could chew wires?" he speculates at Carly's questioning. "But these rabbits are bein' odd. Normal critters would stop," he pauses as a few more bunnies rebound off the field, "when they hit something, wouldn't they?" <'Autobot'> Scamper says, "Laserbeak, a small bird disabled Trokius, the Quintessons cityformer. Do not underestimate the threat smaller creatures can be to Metroplex." <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "Perhaps a small EMP to monitor a reaction? It would be harmless to organics." <'Autobot'> Spindrift says, "Darn right!.. well, we wouldn't be to Metroplex bein' he's ours, but y'know what I mean." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Laserbeak is also equipped with lasers and beaks, and is a jerkicon. But yeah, yeah I hear you I guess...okay so how do we shoo em off?" <'Autobot'> Carly Witwicky says, "Laserbeak is a space robot. Also I think that is more a testament to how rubbish Troikus was, and that awful Quintesson who was in charge of him. Glad to see the back of them both!" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Okay so Carly, you're the resident expert here, I guess. Lets say these lil hoppers here got some sort of radio transmission thing...erm...that's not natural for you guys it seems so...how do we stop em without hurtin em?" "Yeah, like one of the humans," Zipline says, wriggling the digits of her own paw. Which is probably big enough to squish the little rabbit even though she is much smaller than the big sized transformers. Looking towards Carly, Zipline raises a brow. "Uh, okay. Since you're an expert, do normal rabbits 'whirr' like a machine? Because," She points her paw back at a couple of the hoppers, "These guys are. Pretty sure biological things don't whirr." Carly rolls her eyes at Zipline. "No, of course rabbits don't whirr, they're rabbits. It's probably a stomach upset or something. Look." She moves towards the nearest rabbit to grab it and pick it up Now that Arcee has a clearer concept of what's going on, she studies the bunnies more closely. "Huh...OK...maybe we should corral them. Just...like cows. Just walk them into an area, and close it off." Heavy Hovercraft mager> slowly rolls along side the rabbits, then switches form into her larger root form. She puts a hand to her chin as she saunters along with the bunnies, "Okay okay, so if they're whirring, they can't be bunnies. That EMP thing is prolly what we gotta do here.." She starts chugging along with the little warren of bunnies, trying to carefully avoid them, then after getting a few paces ahead, reaches down to try to scoop one up. The hovercraft shudders, then folds in half. Imager stands up from around it, her ramplates becoming her pauldrons as the last step. <'Autobot'> Imager says, "easy....easy...." "Step ahead of ya there lass," Spindrift comments from his forcefield at Arcee's suggestion. He's at least keeping them from moving closer to the city. The majority of the rabbits are still hopping themselves of the forcefield. Though 2 groups of those who were have now started to hop along it, occasionally testing if they can move forward. It's almost as if they're trying to find the edges of the forcefield. Hop hop, SMACK! Hop, hop, SMACK! As Carly picks up one of the rabbits, from one of the groups moving to flank the shield, it keeps trying to hop away. And there's a very mechanical whirring from the rabbit as it continues to try to hop while Carly picks it up. Scamper watches the various rabbits, "Hmmm, I do not believe I have read of rabbits forming strategies to flank anything." Scamper looks at Wraith, "The intervals are random, however latest report suggests there are 3 sources currently. The co-ordinate would match the location of the rabbits. Approximately at least." Wraith transforms, carefully rolling alongside the rabbit swarm as capacitors begin to charge with a soft hum of electricity. "Well, I can easily handle the EMP if we do indeed decide such a thing is warranted in this case. Though, if we are to ensure we strike all of them, it may become a slight bit uncomfortable for everyone present." He pauses, navigating around a small divot. Ugh... Off-road and Lamborghinis does not go well unless you have 'LM' in your designator... Wraith transforms from a robot into a sleek Lamborghini Aventador in one quiet, fluid motion. <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Got enough juice there, Spindrift?" The rabbits are trying to follow the forcefield to the edge? Now that is -definately- no normal. Spindrift grunts, and opens a few additional arrays in his shell to bring the field to its full capacity so he can extend the edges out, and then round them away to keep the rabbits within it's boundry. The sound of his gyroscopic generator spinning up to keep going isn't very loud but the thrmm thrmm is almost constant now. <'Autobot'> Spindrift says, "So far, but dozens of little hits repeatedly is almost as bad as holding back an explosion." <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "The EMP is charged and ready." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "You gimme the word, I've got plenty of 'Gon" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Jus wanna go on record, as saying that if the Cons get footage of us 'lectrocuting these hoppers, we're going to be chased off the planet." <'Autobot'> Spindrift says, "May need t'take ya up on that afterwards though, lass." Carly keeps hold of the whirring and hopping rabbit. "Aw, look at how lovely he is, I'm going to call him Flopsy!" She hefts the rabbit up. "Oh, you're heavy! Let's take you right back to Autobot City!" Carly has an intense desire to carry things back to Autobot City. <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "How fortunate a proper EMP does not harm organic systems." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "well it doesn't exactly look harmless" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "and if these things are motorized, well who knows. Give it a go, just uh...don't aim near me" As Wraith transforms, Scamper moves back, while radio'ing back to base, <> Admittedly he would be surprised if it had any effect on the big guy, but he doesn't get paid to take chances. Bell UH-1V Iroquois lands, given that people are talking about using EMPs on... rabbits. He doesn't want to be knocked out of the sky! "Told you so," Zipline says to Carly, eyeing her pick up one of the rabbits. Cats might always look smug, but she's looking a little more than usual. "It's whirring, isn't it?" Her optics blink out a moment in a moment of bewilderment. "Uh, no, leeet's not. We're trying to NOT take the things to Autobot city. Cause that would probably be bad." She shakes her head. "I say waste the things, Wraith." <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "I make no promises. But I can certainly mitigate the electrical surge that would otherwise damage primary systems." Spindrift raises an extendeed claw in an approximation of a thumbs up to Wraith. Since he's on the other side of the forcefield he's holding the rabbits back with he'll be safe from the EMP. <'Autobot'> Scamper says, "AC, please ensure Carly Witwicky does not enter the city with any rabbits in her possession." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "I just don't want no rabbits blowing up while she's holding em" <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "Standby... on your mark, Scamper." Imager uneasily steps a bit further away from where everyone seems to be looking for the EMP's location. "Not over here..not over here..." She tiptoes around, trying not to step on things, muttering under her intakes about lousy, tiny things being alive and stuff.... Scamper walks over to Carly and without asking removes the rabbit (he agrees with Imagers concerns). He holds the rabbit up at arms length and moves away from Carly (who possibly goes off back to the city in a huff at not getting a pet, who can say for sure), "Go for it Wraith." <'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Lap" Lamborghini Aventador continues to truck (hah) alongside the rabbits, the glowing energon-laced lines rerouting and running their various processes. "Everyone will experience something, I am certain. However, there should be no lasting damage. Do bear in mind, this is to ensure full coverage." At Scamper's say-so, there's a sudden halt to the charging hum of capacitors as the current is reversed, surging out in a rather loud (and bright) discharge that leaves the air humming with electricity, Wraith's own frame crackling with stray bolts from literally grounding out the harmful aspect of the charge via himself. No damage, but..it absolutely will scramble optics and weaker electrical systems within his proximity. Arcee eeks a bit as she feels the sudden voltage. She chuckles nervously, then glances around to see what Wraith's EMP pulse has done to the bunny population. <'Autobot'> Imager says, "A*(((>> FIRK*$ DI%$$ BLAS><<'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Uh." <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "And this is why everyone should invest in proper shielding." <'Autobot'> Solstice slowly "Y-e-e-essss?" Spindrift's little audials lay back as Wraith opens fire. It doesn't affect him, but he can 'feel' the EMP wave rippling against his forcefield. The shield itself flickers a few times, but holds. As Wraith fires his EMP, all those hopping mad rabbits (the ones bouncing off the forcefield make a sizzling noise, and collapse where they are, be it on the ground, mid-hop or on the rebound. A number of rabbits don't fry though. One of which hops over to another rabbit that has fried (coincidentally the still alive rabbit is the one Scamper was pointing his gun at earlier), it sniffs the frieds rabbit, something in it's brain decides that no, it won't be making baby rabbits with this one, and hops back to the other living rabbits who it has more chance with. The fried rabbits remain where they are unmoving. Scamper's rabbit, confiscating from Carly, also makes a fizzing noise, and goes limp. Scamper holds it away from him for a moment, before bringing it closer to his optics (he himself seems to have prepped his systems to handle the EMP), "Curious." He radios AC, <> Bell UH-1V Iroquois just sits there, in the grass, as helicopter. The EMP feels kind of zappy and unpleasant, and Blades can't see too well now. Imager actually attracts electricity, it's a side effect of her Helios Array, so some errant EMP of Wraith's own blast just seems to home in on her. She grimaces, clenching her hands then staggering a bit as if woozy. She holds her head in one hand, ""FIRK DING BLASTED EMP SHOTS!" She laments, though it may not come out so clear as that... Spindrift waits a minute when there's no rabbits bouncing off the forcefield, just to be sure. Then lets it fade away finally. He's okay, but that EMP jolt sucked a fair amount of power out if it. "Now I suppose the next question is -who- put them here, huh?" Combat: Spindrift's forcefield protecting himself vanishes. Systems start to wind down as Wraith surveys the results, a soft hiss of heated air expelling from exhaust vents to assist the heat-sinks that took the overcharge. "Well, I suppose we have our answer there." He remains in-form, though, monitoring his systems until the proverbial green light indicates system stability and he can start charging the capacitors up to standby-levels once more. Zipline grits her teeth when the pulse ripples over her. Optics flicker on and off a couple times as the pulse makes her vision turn staticy. Her tail slumps flat to the ground instead of being held out behind her like usual. Luckily, many of her more sensitive systems are heavily shielded already due to the fact that she practically works with a giant electromagnet on her back most of the time in the first place. "Gaaaah, that stung." She shakes her head quickly, then smacks one side of it briefly with a paw. An attempt to flick her tail proves futile, and she glances back behind her. "Laaame, gotta reset my balance system." Once her eyes have finished staticing though, she takes a look around at the robo-rabbit carnage. "Whoa, toasted! See, totally machines." Arcee makes her way over to Imager and pats her arm. She knows, EMP is no fun. Her vision is still kind of fuzzy, but it's gradually clearing, and eventually she's able to see the rabbit casualties. "...Did someone really go through all this trouble? Seems really strange." Imager instinctively goes to brush off Arcee's consoling pat, but restrains herself, ""Erm..yeah, I'm really freaking conductive..." She regains a bit of her braggart nature, ""When you're packing as much energon as me, it's sort of comes with the territory." She manages a weak smile to Arcee before looking over at zapped rabbits. ""Well there's more of em right? So zap em and bring a few in for the lookie-loos to examine...unless they're bombs, then don't do that." Looking over the various downed rabbits, Scamper looks at the still moving ones with a little suspicion (well this is Scamper, he's not far behind Red Alert in the paranoia department). "This is... definitely curious. If they were broadcasting signals, someone was obviously receiving them." Solstice drifts out of AC at about 45 degrees and some speed that'd be impolite in traffic before slowing to a respectable speed and straightening out. Woo-hoo, freedom at last, help mother earth, lets joy-ride. Lamborghini Aventador seems content that nothing is moving, and transforms back into a more suitable all-terrain form. "Perhaps triangulation would assist in finding the source? We did manage to capture a fair bit of traffic via the pulses." He eyes one of the 'machine' rabbits thoughtfully. "Their circuitry may be too fried to properly utilize in establishing a trace... but we could also look for identity plates or other aspects that could point towards a source, such as a manufacturer of their components. A massive purchase or manufacturing project like this would surely leave a footprint." Wraith transforms seamlessly from a Lamborghini Aventador into a more proper form. Spindrift trundles pass all the collapsed and fried bunny-drones to flump down at Imager and Arcee's feet. Which truth be told isn't really all that different of a position for him other than sprawled limbs since he's built low to the ground anyways. "I think I could use that top-off to the tank now, miss." Combat: Imager runs a diagnostic check on Spindrift Arcee stares off at the horizon for a long moment, then suddenly looks over at Wraith as something occurs to her. "Did they all enter the area from a single direction?" She hadn't noticed one way or another, because she arrived later than some of the others. Zipline's tail flicks feebly when she glowers at it. Seems like that'll take a little longer to recalibrate than her vision. "Whatever they're for," She says, walking a bit more carefully than usual over to one of the rabbits, "They're one big distraction. We've been out here for like, a half hour just dealing with them." She reaches out to poke at one of the remains, but wobbles slightly on three limbs without her tail active to balance her. "Maybe someone thinks we'd just think they were harmless little cute things and bring them in." Imager gives Spindrift a nod, ""Yeah, time to do my job here, as opposed to lookin total B-A, and stuff..." She starts to hunch down nearby to change modes, as she adds ""That's just my hobby." Her gem-like Helios Array pulls out of her chest, then into the shield at her back, which becomes the solar collector atop her hovercraft form, the reddish gem in the middle of it. ""Gotcha covered, big guy." The array tilts over a bit then starts to glow as energy itself is captured and manipulated into a beam of replenishment. Imager kneels, then splits as she lays flat, then outer casing of her hovercraft mode sealing into position around her. Combat: Heavy Hovercraft mager> runs a diagnostic check on Spindrift Combat: Heavy Hovercraft mager> refuels Spindrift's energon reserves. Wraith looks around. "I am uncertain. They were here and advancing when I arrived. If they gathered here or arrived as one mass is not quite known to me." He looks at Scamper. "What do the system reports indicate?" Combat: Heavy Hovercraft mager> deploys her reserve energon tank. After a few moments with the energizing ray the glow returns to Spindrift's arrays, then the guard panels slide shut over them once more. With a bit of a shuffle he pulls his paws back under himself and stands up. Again, not that big of a difference heightwise. "Aaah, much abliged miss." With that taken care of he turns his head in the direction of Scamper and Wraith. "Not really my field of know-how, but I'd hazard a guess as that is why they kept movin' in groups instead of all at once. Try and keep bein' noticed down." Nodding at Wraith, Scamper kneels to look closer at a group of the now fried rabbits, "There are definitely a number of avenues we should investigate." Scamper radios AC, <> Scamper looks at Wraith once again, "The rabbits were not tracked prior to our arrival, indigeonous life forms are not monitored unless they match known Decepticon disguises. However we may be able to track the signals backwards using recorded data." Solstice rounds a curve, behaving herself as far as the speed limits are concerned. Spidey sense.. well not really but more akin to that weird itchy feeling one gets before a storm crosses the cars frame. "Whu-huh?" muttering to herself and calling up a weather report. "Huh, no storms, feels weird though... Better go have a look see..." Downshifting and heading towards the grassy knoll... Wraith glances at Arcee. "And this is why I should have been with Intel..." He chuckles softly, leaning down to pick up one of the fallen mechano-rabbits so he can look it over. "Hmm..." He starts digging at it with a fingertip to try and pry it open. "Let's check and see what we've got in here." "Careful..." Now Arcee is beginning to feel paranoid about the cute little creatures. Sometimes cute...isn't so cute! "Maybe there's explosives inside!" She winces. That sounded bad. Now she's all panicky over explosive mechrabbits. "...I mean, safety." Combat: Wraith compares his Technical to 80: Success! Thankfully fake rabbit no go boom. It does fizzle a bit more and a few sparks go off as Wraith prys it open. Inside is, for the most part, mundane machinery. <'Autobot'> Imager says, "Whats it look like there, Necrobot?" Wraith hmms. He starts peeling away various pieces... No explosions is a good thing, but he hardly seemed concerned about one. A combined effort of all of them, perhaps. But one? Hardly. Small pieces are pulled out and carefully handed over to Arcee. "This is too simplistic to be Decepticon." He pauses, though, spying something within and reaches in to pry the section out. "This, however, is intriguing..." He clears out the area around a chip inside and shows it to Arcee and Scamper. "Unique enough that it may be a good means of identifying the culprit." <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "It looks like a roughshod, poorly made piece of tin with cheap mechanical engineering behind it." Another flick, and Zipline's tail lashes upwards and settles back in its usual position. With her balancing systems back on line, she begins moving around the hoard of short circuited robo-rabbits. She moves carefully (for her) around them, avoiding the real rabbits. "You guys do that, I'm gonna scout around," She says, getting out of the carnage. "All this sitting around and examining is getting bor-ing." Scanners flick on as she prowls away, optics roaming over the warrens curiously. <'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Sooooo, you guys having a picnic?" <'Autobot'> Scamper says, "Repeling a coordinated rabbit intrusion." <'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Bwah?" <'Autobot'> Wraith says, "That statement is shockingly accurate." <'Autobot'> Imager says, "That's almost as much of a letdown as Letdown's last musical number..." <'Autobot'> Spindrift says, "... Hehehe, shockingly" <'Autobot'> Solstice says, "Wow.. Rabbits. So.. Really? Rabbits? *disbelieving*" <'Autobot'> Imager says, "is it really rabbits if they're robots in disguise?" Arcee peers at the pieces Wraith hands over to her, then looks curiously at the chip itself, shaking her head. She just can't fathom why someone would put time and energy into...this. Scamper looks back to the piles of fried robo-rabbits, "We should gather these all up, the chips could have consignment numbers on them, assuming they all have them." Wraith nods slowly. "I will see what I can do to gather them up. We should relocate them somewhere safe until all power supplies have been removed and neutralized as well." Solstice slows as she gets to the general area of.. "Holy wow, what's up with all of these.. corpses?" Halting and transforming so as to avoid rolling over any of the wee, fried, apparently robotic rabbits. "Wow..." The Koenigsegg splits, unfolds and reshapes upwards into Solstice. Fortress Maximus emerges out from one of Autobot City's gates, notices the fried robo-rabbits, and eyes the rest of the Autobots with concern, "I heard there were disturbances out here, and now I see... this. Just what exactly am I seeing?" "Wraith hit them with an EMP blast," Arcee explains to Solstice with a grin. When Fort Max arrives, she shrugs. "Very strange thing happened out here...something to do with mechanical rabbits. Not toys, but not dangerous, either." Wraith glances up at Fortress Maximus. "It appears someone devised a rather interesting means of invading Autobot City, Sir." He holds up his gutted rabbit to show the mechanisms inside. "We are going to work on figuring out who the responsible party is. The threat appears to be... neutralized." He nods to Arcee. "What she said." Solstice blinks at the carnage, I mean, it is bunnies.. Then looks over and cracks a grin at Arcee, "Little Bunny Foo Foo has nothin' on this. This is weird." Radioing AC, Scamper has them prep a containment unit for the rabbits. He nods to Fort, "They were transmitting as well, potentially a method for gaining access to Autobot City to spy on us. A curious approach." Scamper eyes all the bodies, "We will definitely need to gather them all up." He then looks at the real rabbits who are still in the area happily hopping around, "I hope these are not advanced models." "Weird is pretty much the gold standard around here, isn't it," Arcee says to Solstice with a shrug. "I mean, whoever it isn't couldn't have just sent a drone, he had to have a ton of mechrabbits." Spindrift says, "Yeeeup" Fortress Maximus raises an optical groove as he overhears Arcee and Solstice's conversation. EMPing robo-rabbits? Oh my gosh, have the Autobots turned towards harming innocent little mechanical animals to get their jollies now?! Fortunately Wraith's explanation adds another layer of perspective on the manner, "In all my years, I've yet to see an invasion this absurd before. I'm glad the rest of you mechs were able to respond and put an end to this plot before it went any further." He narrows his optics at the gutted internals of the robo-rabbit that Wraith is holding up before looking over to Scamper, "This sounds like a job for our resident communications specialist, Blaster." He then looks over to the other Autobots, "Think there's enough components left on these robo-rabbits that we'd be able to get a clue of the bigger picture?" Wraith nods at Arcee. "So it would seem." He glances at the mess outside and just starts collecting up a few. "The components are intact. The circuitry will need repairs to function again. There are some aspects that seem unique that may be used to identify the builder. Or, at least some manufacturers. As mentioned before, large orders of this nature tend to leave behind a trail." Ultra Magnus emerges from Autobot City Ultra Magnus has arrived.